2023 Featured Performers & Stage Schedules

Celtic, tribal, Gypsy rock with an Appalachian steampunk edge. Their rhythmic groove and interaction naturally inspires audience participation, a staple of their performances. They mesh the traditional music of Scotland and Ireland with their own bold blend of mainstream rock, mountain drumming and Appalachian blues to produce a truly unique sound with universal appeal!

“Doc Watson meets Bob Marley” in Ras Alan’s mountain music with a reggae heartbeat. The long, storied career, of the Appalachia-born Ras Alan includes playing music with Blue Ridge mountain flatpicker and singer Doc Watson, West African “Grandfather of the Blues” Ali Farke Toure, American mandolinist extraordinaire Jethro Burns and Nigerian drummer and educator Babatunde Olatunji. He has performed his Appalachian Reggae around the country including for thousands at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. His music is “experiential” in every way.
Ras Alan & The Lions will feature longtime collaborators Jeremy “Jah-remy” Corn on organ, piano, harmonica and vocals and drummer, percussionist and vocalist Brandon “Firehouse” Renfro, as well as singer-songwriter Ian “New Taters” Feathers on bass and vocals, representing over 100 combined years of live music performances!

Kuchipudi is a dance-drama performance from India, with its roots in the ancient Hindu Sanskrit text of Natya Shastra. It developed as a religious art linked to traveling bards, temples and spiritual beliefs, like all major classical dances of India. Evidence of Kuchipudi’s existence in an older version are found in copper inscriptions of the 10th century, and by the 15th century in texts such as the Machupalli Kaifat.Kuchipudi tradition holds that Tirtha Narayana Yati – a sanyassin of Advaita Vedanta persuasion, and his disciple, an orphan named Siddhendra Yogi, founded and systematized the modern version of Kuchipudi in the 17th century. Kuchipudi largely developed as a Hindu god Krishna-oriented Vaishnavism tradition, and it is known by the name of Bhagavata Mela in Thanjavur. The traditional Kuchipudi was performed by all males troupe. A dancer in a male role would be in Agnivastra, also known as Bagalbandi, wear a dhoti (a single pleated piece of cloth hanging down from the waist). A dancer in a female role would wear a Sari with light makeup. 

Danza Guerreros Quetzalcoatl from Nashville is a traditional Aztec dance group, we represent our beautiful Mexican culture. We make our own music using a drum. Our beautiful regalia (outfits) is full of wonderful colors, our headpiece is a work of art. Each of our members spend about 3 hours placing each individual feather to create them.

Hui Kaululehua focuses on traditional Hawaiian hula dance. They focus on two types of dance – kahiko (ancient pre-contact hula) and ‘auana (modern style hula) – along with the musical accompaniment for these dance types. Performances include both styles and educational information about hula and the songs they dance to.

The group will perform four dances:
Malong-malong dance originates from the Maranao tribes of Mindanao and shows many ways of wearing the malong
The Igorot dance. Igorots or mountain people refers to the six ethno-linguistic peoples from the remote mountainous regions of Luzon.
Pandanggo sa Ilaw, which translates as Dance of Lights, is a waltz-style, playful folk dance that showcases a unique fusion of local and western indigenous dance forms. Originating in Lubang Island, Mindoro in the Philippines, it is usually performed during festivities and special occasions.
PAYPAY DE MANILA (Manila Folding Fan) is a dance of Spanish influence. It displays the young ladies with scented fans or paypay and flirt with young men with canes and straw hats. The dance music is a mixture of a slow habanera alternated with a very fast polka accentuated with heavy stamping of the men’s heel-clicks

Sankofa African Drum and Dance Company is a Tennessee based performing arts company whose mission is to rally communities around the beat of the drum to unify, heal and inspire.

The symbol of Sankofa is that of a bird whose head is faced in the opposite direction of its body. Even though the bird is advancing, it periodically makes it a point to examine or return to its past, since this is the only way for one to have a better future.

Sankofa African Drum and Dance Company was founded by Maria Estes Hall in 2007 after receiving a call to organize the best of the best African Drummers and Dancers in the Tennessee area for a showcase. Little did she know, that show would birth a performing arts company that has now developed into the premier African Drum and Dance Company in Tennessee.

In addition to self-producing an annual Kwanzaa concert (since 2013) to sold-out crowds each year; Sankofa performs throughout the City of Nashville and the surrounding area frequently, at festivals, schools, community events and private events. They also host weekly community classes for adults and children in Nashville.

Sankofa is firmly rooted in educating and cultivating an appreciation for African culture and music. Sankofa understands the power of Unity and utilizes the medium of African Drum and Dance to tear down barriers that tend to divide communities. Sankofa believes that a community that drums and dances together stays together.

A mix of traditional Bosnian sevdah songs as well as gypsy and folk music from the Balkin region. Instruments include guitar, prim, veillette and gryphone.

Manisha & Aanyaa Arora perform Indian Bollywood fusion dance representing various dance forms of Indian culture

Rachana Pasupuleti was 8 years old when she began peforming at the Bowling Green International Festival in 2009. She has studied Bharatnatyam, a Classical form of Indian Dance since she was three years old.

Bharatanatyam is one of the most ancient and exquisite dance forms in the World. It is one of the seven major classical dance forms of India and the most widely known. It is the classical dance style native to southern India, particularly the state of Tamil Nadu. Bharatanatyam is a sublime artistic experience both for the performer and the audience. In addition to being an exquisite dance form, Bharatanatyam teaches concentration, physical and mental discipline and is an excellent physical activity for all ages.

Robin Duckett and Dale McCubbins perform traditional Irish/Scottish music, including popular folks songs of the region, also tunes like jigs, reels, even sea shanties!

Widely acclaimed dance teacher, performer and workshop instructor Safiya Nawaar, is the owner and artistic director of Arabesque World Dance & Troupe Banat Nawaar (The Daughters of Nawaar) in Lexington, Kentucky. This beautiful dancer brings the emotions of music to life through creative movement with a powerful yet delicate style, both on the stage and in the classroom. Her specialties include the traditional and folkloric dances from Lebanon, Egypt and Turkey loosely coined as belly dance. Safiya continues to study extensively, traveling and taking workshops from world renowned instructors in the art of Middle Eastern and North African dance. Through all of these instructors her curriculum has grown to include dance styles from Egypt, Lebanon & the Levant area, Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria.